New senior, wellness programs offered for refugees

Bukuru Spes, 19, a refugee from Burundi, waits to see a case worker Feb. 27 at the Cultural Enrichment Center, which is part of Erie's Multicultural Community Resource Center. Both centers are located in the 500 block of East 10th Street in Erie. Founded in 1975 as the Hispanic American Council, the MCRC's 50 employees serve thousands of immigrants and refugees each year.CHRISTOPHER MILLETTE/ERIE TIMES-NEWS

Shiva Kuikel patiently sits in a classroom for two and a half hours each day learning English.

Originally from the Himalayan nation of Bhutan, Kuikel, 55, came to Erie "three years and six months ago" with his wife and four adult children. The family had lived in a refugee camp in Nepal for 18 years.

"I want to learn English, to learn," he said. "When I first came, I could only write my name, 'Shiva,' on a little paper."

Kuikel studies at the Multicultural Community Resource Center, at East 10th and Ash streets, while his children work. But many older refugees are isolated at home and don't venture out to learn or socialize.

They should, Kuikel said. "It's good here. It's good in Erie."

A new program by the Multicultural Community Resource Center is enticing senior refugees out of their homes and to activities at the organization's new Cultural Enrichment Center, located in the former Tenth Street United Methodist Church at 538 E. 10th St. The MCRC bought the church, whose congregation had dwindled, for $72,000 in December. An $80,000 state grant funded the purchase and provided seed money for new programs for senior refugees, MCRC Executive Director Joel Tuzynski said.

"These are people who at one time had status, respect and standing in their own countries, and now are just old folks at home, stuck in the house," Tuzynski said. "They're coming in, having tea and learning some English. They're planning movie nights, rummage sales and sports events like they had in their native countries."

Response to the program has been immediate and enthusiastic, said Joanna Cherpak, MCRC associate director of operations. Fifty people came to the first seniors' program last fall, and 60 now participate regularly.

"The response has been more than we ever expected, and has really enhanced the program," Cherpak said.

MCRC administrators plan to open a coffee shop in the Cultural Enrichment Center where seniors, other refugees and the Erie community can relax, talk and learn from each other, Tuzynski said.

Plans for the new building additionally include ethnic dance performances, cultural festivals, recreation, and dinner-theater shows.

"The church has a gym, a stage, a kitchen and meeting rooms, things that we'd never had, and that's opened a couple of new doors for us," Tuzynski said.

The gym accommodates karate and tai chi classes that are part of a new wellness program for refugees of all ages. The program additionally offers nutrition classes, immunizations and health screenings with help from Saint Vincent Health Center medical residents, students from the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and other volunteers.

The United Way of Erie County helps fund the preventive health programs, which will include mental-health services by a Safe Harbor counselor beginning this spring.

"It's exciting to see all of these pieces fitting together," Tuzynski said.

The MCRC has traditionally offered employment training, day care, after-school programs, immigration and naturalization services, parenting education, interpreting, truancy and drug prevention programs, and English and diploma classes, including Kuikel's intermediate English class.

Founded as the Hispanic American Council in 1975, the Multicultural Community Resource Center has grown to help Erie's growing population of refugees. It served between 2,500 and 3,500 people from more than a dozen countries in 2012, Tuzynski said.

There's more work to do.

The center recently began offering diversity training for teachers, employers, health-care workers and others in the Erie community, and is planning a tristate diversity conference for later this year or 2014.

Still needed are refugee housing programs, mentor programs to help refugees buy insurance and accomplish other new tasks, and youth services, MCRC administrators said.

"We'd love to do more youth programs, and help young people focus on careers and adapt to and achieve in our educational system," said Allen Turner, the agency's associate director of programs.

Anna Omelchenko, 23, who just arrived from Ukraine, is grateful for services already available at the Multicultural Community Resource Center, and from the International Institute and Catholic Charities.

Omelchenko came to Erie in December to marry. Her husband, who is self-employed in construction, has been in this country for several years.

She is learning English and meeting other new arrivals at the Multicultural Community Resource Center.

"It is good here. It is very helpful to learn," she said.

VALERIE MYERS can be reached at 878-1913 or by e-mail. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNmyers.